I'm excited, because if the controversial concept of shared responsibility can be applied to police shooting accidents, how difficult a jump would it be to blame gun-rights activists for the problems of gun violence due to lax or non-existent laws?

via The Washington Post quoting a typical blowhard gun rights supporter who's basically whistling in the dark and spouting nonsense. Referring to the president he has this to offer.

“He’s been dead silent on guns because he’s scared to death of us,” said William Shelley, 58, an electrical lineman from Liberty, Mo., attending his 12th NRA meeting. “He’s learned not to talk about guns.”

I suppose that terrible shellacking Obama took in the polls last time due to the NRA influence really taught him a lesson.

Investigators may never know exactly what spurred DeCarlos Moore to disobey police commands and run back to his car during a tense traffic stop in Overtown last July.

But Moore, 36, sealed his fate when he reached into his open driver’s side window, was seen holding something metallic in his hand, and turned to face the officers. Rookie Miami Police Officer Joseph Marin, fearing Moore was armed, fired one lethal round to his head, authorities said.

The shiny object in question was likely a fist-sized batch of crack cocaine wrapped in aluminum foil, according to a final report released Thursday. And Marin was justified in using lethal force, Miami-Dade prosecutors concluded in the first detailed account of the first of seven controversial fatal shootings in seven months in Miami.

Three people are dead and a fourth critically wounded after an early-morning shooting and SWAT standoff in a south DeKalb County neighborhood.

DeKalb police spokeswoman Mekka Parish told the AJC that the incident began around 4:30 a.m. Friday when gunfire broke out during a street argument on Tally Ho Drive off Gresham Road.

Two people were shot and killed, and a man involved in that shooting then ran to a home on nearby Cloverleaf Drive, where he shot two more people -- killing one of them -- before barricading himself inside the house, Parish said.

Friday, May 6, 2011

I'm fairly certain that every one of these people described below also believes it is important, even essential, that they have one or more guns, that they are using those weapons appropriately, that their use of weapons for protection is justified and necessary, even that they handle guns safely.

That doesn't make it true, it only proves that those assumptions are subjective rather than objective. It shows how easily violence can be rationalized, by legal or illegal gun owners.

18 Year old shot in north Minneapolis dies; 2 other teens arrested
A teenager who was shot earlier this week in north Minneapolis has died, and two 17-year-old boys have been arrested in the killing, police said Friday.
The shooting occurred about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 3800 block of Emerson Avenue North. Police and other emergency personnel found the 18-year-old man unresponsive in an alley, said Sgt. Stephen McCarty.
He was taken to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale and died the next day, police said. Police are not saying what led to the shooting. Authorities have yet to release his identity.
Sy Huff, a disc jockey on KMOJ Radio on the North Side, identified the victim as Keontrell Govan. Eulogies are starting to populate Govan's Facebook memorial age.
The victim was known to Huff and youth worker Sarah Klouda, who both helped Govan move last fall during a period when he was homeless. He was not a regular part of their outreach work in north Minneapolis, but his girlfriend was more closely involved, said Huff, who is known to listeners of Minneapolis radio station KMOJ as "Big Sy."
Huff said the shooting set off at least two other retaliatory shootings, all involving cliques or street gangs.
"It's been a mess since then," he said. Rumors about the shootings have spread quickly, concerning Huff that some kids may act out in revenge.
Two young men who belong to the Tre's street gang, meanwhile, went to Huff to tell him they had thrown out four handguns, saying they didn't want to get involved with what they saw as a rekindled turf battle among other groups.
"I don't know what the summer's going to bring," Huff said.
A man who lives near the scene of Wednesday's shooting said he was working in his garage when he heard three shots. "I looked up and saw some kids running," said Charlie Lee. He moved into the neighborhood eight months ago with his family, including three teenagers.
Lee was shocked to find bullet holes through the walls of his garage, and said that Wednesday's shooting has him thinking about moving again.
"I don't like this," he said.

The first two years of the scorecard, Arizona received 6 points. Last year, Arizona earned 2 points because of its law that allows state universities to ban firearms on campus. This year, it ended up with zero points. It got the 2 points again for the university law, but the group for the first time docked states 2 points if they do not require a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Arizona passed such a law last year.

Nevertheless, there's very little chance of their regaining The Crown unless they take over the pharmaceutical distribution business from Florida.

To me it didn't look like the bartender was frightened or even surprised. I wondered if maybe they were friends and this was their idea of playing around.

Whatever it was, it certainly merited suspension, don't you think? And, naturally it makes you wonder how common is this behaviour. Would it be more prevalent among cops than among civilian gun owners? What do you think?

Witnesses told police that Habib, who is also known as “Tony,” came into the store Wednesday and got into an argument with the employees over his claims that they owed him money. About 4:37 p.m., Habib pulled out a gun, walked behind the counter and began shooting, they said.

Down in Dallas, they've all got guns. It's gotten so you can't tell the good guys from the bad guys any more.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Minneapolis cops peacefully end a stand off with a gun-waving man

Tragedy narrowly averted on Cecil Street SE at about 4 p.m. yesterday, where cops from Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota were able to end a stand off between a gun-waving man and some construction workers.

The call came in after the man came out of his home and fired a gun into the air. No one was hurt.

Uniformed and SWAT officers took their positions, and then tried to make contact with the man via telephone. Those efforts failed. The guy hunkered down.
Just as preparations were being made to evacuate nearby homes ahead of a "dynamic entry," and four hours after the stand off began, the suspect walked out of the house, unarmed and taken into custody.
Minneapolis police said he was booked for making terroristic threats and may face more charges pending an investigation. Numerous guns were later found in the house, police said.

Man in Critical Condition after North Minneapolis Shooting

Gunfire erupts between Emerson, Fremont Avenues

MINNEAPOLIS - Police say an afternoon shooting in North Minneapolis has left one man in critical condition.
According to Sgt. Stephen McCarty, one man was shot at about 4:40 p.m. at the 3800 block between North Emerson and North Freemont avenues.
The victim was taken to North Memorial.
Police did not release any information about suspects or arrests.

Police say the 54-year-old woman pretended to be dead after she was shot in the arm at an apartment in the 400-block of North Summit Avenue on Saturday morning. Then, police say the 42-year-old man fatally shot himself.

The woman fled the home and called police. The man was pronounced dead on the scene. The woman was taken to Suburban Hospital with life-threatening injuries, but is expected to survive.

Did you ever notice how things that are really true, those which contain indisputable veracity keep coming up, again and again, season after season?

Guns are bad news for women. In this case the gun owner was such a bumbling idiot that he only wounded his girlfriend and made good on killing himself. He was probably an illustrious member of the Famous 10%. What do you think?

California boy charged with murdering neo-Nazi dad

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A 10-year-old boy was charged Wednesday with murdering his neo-Nazi father in the family's Southern California home and his attorney said he might pursue an insanity defense.

Riverside County prosecutors charged the boy with murder involving the use of a gun after reviewing the facts surrounding the early Sunday morning shooting of Jeff Hall, a 32-year-old plumber who had carried a swastika flag and led rallies outside a local synagogue and day labor site.
Prosecutors declined to provide additional details until the boy enters a plea but said the case is highly unusual because of the boy's age.
"To say it's unheard of is not hyberbole in this case," said Ambrosio E. Rodriguez, senior deputy district attorney. "This is extremely rare. It is almost unheard of — until today."
The small, blonde-haired boy appeared in juvenile court in Riverside Wednesday in an orange detention shirt, khaki pants and handcuffs. But his detention hearing was delayed to May 18 in what deputy public defender Matt Hardy said would be a "long haul" of a case.
Hardy said county social workers have monitored the boy's family since 2003 out of a concern for his welfare amid allegations of abuse or neglect. He said he did not have details of the allegations but requested the files and a psychiatric evaluation of the boy before entering a plea in two weeks.
"We have to look at the things that are mental elements," Hardy told The Associated Press late Wednesday. "Whether he pulled the trigger or not is not the end of the inquiry."

Judge Charles J. Koosed on Wednesday ordered the boy to remain at juvenile hall. After the hearing, the child requested a visit with his step-mother and grandmother.

The boy, whose name is not being released by the AP because he is a minor, is accused of shooting his father with a handgun in the family home in Riverside. Hall was found on the couch and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene, said Riverside police Lt. Ed Blevins.
Authorities believe the shooting was intentional but declined to comment on a motive — except to say they do not believe Hall's neo-Nazi affiliation played a role.
There were no reports of a disturbance or argument before the shooting was reported to police at about 4 a.m. Sunday, Blevins said.
The boy is being tried in juvenile court because he is under 14 years old and prosecutors cannot charge him as an adult, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County District Attorney's office.
Relatives of the boy who attended the hearing declined comment on the case. His mother, Leticia Neal, said she is looking into hiring a private attorney but only learned of the shooting on Monday.
Hall's four other children have been placed in protective custody.
Court records show that Hall was granted custody of the two children he had with Neal. The Los Angeles Times reported that Neal sought reunification with her children and in Hall's court filings in response to her request he described his son's troubled past, saying he had been removed from several schools for "his wild and sometimes violent actions."
Hall was southwest regional leader of the National Socialist Movement, an organization that advocates white supremacy. He led rallies against illegal immigration and outside a local synagogue, stoking outcry from a host of community groups and residents concerned about the rise in hate groups in the vast suburbs southeast of Los Angeles.
Hall, who advocated for a breakaway white nation, also lost a bid last year for a seat on the Western Municipal Water District board in Riverside.
The Anti-Defamation League considers Hall's organization to be the country's largest neo-Nazi group.

Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, better known as the Marquis de Lafayette, was a French nobleman who famously served as a major general for the Continental Army in the American Revolution. Lafayette was integral to France's support of American troops in the war as well.

These contributions did not go unacknowledged; roughly two dozen states have towns named after him amongst a host of other honors. But the most impressive acknowledgement came on December 28, 1784 -- roughly a year after the American Revolution officially ended under the Treaty of Paris. On that date, the state of Maryland passed a resolution, making Lafayette a "natural born citizen" of the state. The resolution also did the same for all of Lafayette's male heirs, extending to and beyond the present day.

In 1919, the New York Times (pdf of article here) concluded that this designation is likely unconstitutional under our present framework -- as the power to define "natural born citizen" resides with Congress, per Article I Section 8 Clause 4 of the U.S. Constitution. But, as the Times notes, Maryland's grant of citizenship to Lafayette and his heirs predates the Constitution, and comes from a time when states were empowered to define who was a citizen.

Why is Lafayette's designation as a "natural born citizen" notable? Because Article II Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution states, in part "[n]o person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President[.]"

Lafayette's male heirs -- whomever and wherever they may be -- have met the first prong required to be eligible to be President of the United States, in a manner unique to them.

Tampa-area authorities say an unruly passenger flashed a gun at a cab driver, sparking a gunfight that left the passenger injured.

Largo police say a Yellow Cab driver, who has not been identified, picked up 19-year-old Travonte Myles just before 3 a.m. Sunday. The pair got into an argument and the driver asked Myles to get out. Police say Myles then pulled out a weapon. The driver got out of the car, armed with his own weapon, and the pair exchanged fire.

Police say Myles was struck at least three times in the lower extremities and was being treated at a hospital. The driver was not injured.

Police say the driver is licensed to carry a concealed weapon and acted in self-defense.

Do you think there was any attempt on the part of the cowboy taxi driver to determine if there had actually been lethal threat? Or is it like burglary, we can safely presume the guy deserves to be shot even if he just brandishes a gun?

An off-duty Buckeye police officer was shot and killed and another severely wounded during a shooting early Sunday morning while working a security detail at an event in Phoenix.

Phoenix police spokesman Sgt.Tommy Thompson said Officer Rolando Tirado was killed when he was shot from behind by a suspect at a dance.

Officer Christopher Paz, who was working the event with Tirado, was wounded in an ensuing shootout and was in critical condition at a local hospital. Phoenix police said on Wednesday said that Paz is expected to survive.

What's the connection between this misery and the NRA Convention of 2009, you ask? Well the connection is the same one we see every single day, day in and day out. The gun-rights movement which is championed at the NRA Conventions is the prime mover behind preventing the kinds of gun control laws which could minimize gun violence. They don't want that, some because they simply don't want to be inconvenienced, others because they're so paranoid they fear the slippery slope which inevitably leads to total gun confiscation.

Whatever their motives, the folks who are responsible for the lack of proper gun control are also responsible for the results. They can't have one without the other.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The NRA is the most accomplished marketer of fear in American political life.

There is, first, the fear of imminent violent attack. I’m not talking about a healthy concern for personal and family security. The NRA, and its gun industry patrons, need average Americans to believe that the threat of attack is constant and pervasive; that we are at serious risk all the time and everywhere we go. It’s not enough to have a gun in the home for self-defense; you need multiple guns throughout your home so you’re never too far from your gun. It’s not enough to carry a concealed weapon outside your home; the law must allow you to carry it virtually anywhere an attack might conceivably occur, into restaurants, bars, sports stadiums, community centers and churches.

I am always struck by the certainty that shooters have that they are justified when they shoot someone else. In this shooting, the person is trying to claim that his gun went off accidentally. There appears to have been an argument, there appears no justification, no reasonable or appropriate explanation for this man to be carrying a gun or have taken the gun out of the holster other than an intentional shooting.

This is no different an apparent crime than the violence practiced by anti-abortionists who take up guns or other weapons to force their beliefs on others where society has no consensus on their point of view. They believe, and they feel it is their right, including their 2nd amendment right, to act this way with weapons.

They are wrong. That people can believe they are right while being so very wrong is just one reason why we should not make it easier to legally shoot another person. The desire to do so seems consistently to come from the right, no matter how they try to spin it. It makes violence more acceptable, and it is wrong.

People here ask us to trust that others will carry and use guns only in appropriate ways, and that therefore we should allow, and even be comfortable, with a society in which weapons are common for purposes of shooting other human beings.

I would argue that any society where weapons are common other than for a clearer necessity of shooting something other than human beings is not civilized.

This was not a hunting accident, this was not a suicide gone wrong. This was not a home invasion where a homeowner shot an armed intruder who was threatening him. This was the shooting of an unarmed woman in the home of a family member. I see no indication that this was an illegally obtained weapon or that this man was a criminal engaged in theft, rape, kidnapping, the drug trade or anything similar. This was not an incident in a war zone.

We choose the kind of society we live in; we should choose not to be a violent society by not approving of weapons and violence.

Minn. man accused of killing stepdaughter in Michigan over dispute she wasn't following Islam

Article by: Associated Press

WARREN, Mich. - A Minnesota man is accused of killing his 20-year-old stepdaughter in Michigan because she left home and wasn't following Islam, police said Tuesday.
Rahim Alfetlawi, 45, was being held without bond Tuesday in the Macomb County Jail after being charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jessica Mokdad on Saturday at her grandmother's home in the Detroit suburb of Warren.
Alfetlawi was arraigned Monday, and a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. He awaits a May 12 preliminary examination. Alfetlawi requested a court-appointed lawyer. A number listed for the Coon Rapids man in Minnesota wasn't in service.
Warren Police Detective Lt. Michael Torey said Alfetlawi went to police in neighboring Center Line to report the shooting. Torey said Alfetlawi told police the gun discharged accidentally when he pulled it out, but police believe he intentionally shot Mokdad in the head.
Torey said Mokdad had left her mother and stepfather to live with her father near Flint in Grand Blanc because she did not like their rules.
"He's a strict Muslim, she was more Americanized," Torey said.
Authorities say Alfetlawi told them he came to Michigan to find and confront Mokdad's father. Torey said Alfetlawi asked Mokdad about where her father was and an argument ensued.

A federal appeals court panel ruled Monday that gun show promoters have failed to show that a ban on firearms at the Alameda County Fairgrounds violates their right to keep and bear arms.

Rather than dismissing the promoters' 12-year-old lawsuit, however, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco gave the plaintiffs another chance to produce evidence that the ban unreasonably restricts law-abiding citizens' ability to obtain guns for self-defense.

Neighbors say they heard up to four shots, and then Steven Mayo screaming. "After we heard the gunshots, I heard Steven like screaming - 'I want my brother back, I want my brother back!'," said Briney Nadeau, who lives nearby. "[He was] like screaming, tweaking right out like I would do if that happened, you know what I mean?"

People who know the brothers also say they've gotten in fights before and that Steven Mayo fired shots at Ryan Mayo's four-wheeler last week when the younger brother wouldn't leave his property.

State Police say the two lived next door to one another; Ryan lived with his parents in a trailer. He was shot outside that home, according to police.

What's your opinion? Is this just another case of young men who are a little too loose with their 2nd Amendment Rights? Is this the price we have to pay for all that freedom? Or do you think there might be a way to restrict and control guns a little better than we do now?

Greensburg police said BB- or pellet-gun holes in two vehicles may be related to a shooting spree that caused damage to more than 70 cars and homes during the weekend in central Westmoreland County.

Authorities reported three other incidents of criminal mischief from the weekend or on Monday.

Police expect to file charges with county juvenile authorities after a 17-year-old boy allegedly fired a BB or pellet gun at a North Hamilton Avenue home, damaging a window.

The boy said he was trying to shoot a cat, police said.

Seranko said someone may have been trying to break into a vehicle on Highland Avenue. Damage was done to a window and molding around it, he said.

A 66-year-old Greensburg man said a rock was thrown at his car as he traveled on West Pittsburgh Street, near Gaither Way. The window didn't break, and the two male suspects, each about 10 years old, ran away, police said.

What do you think? Maybe the gun apologists are right. If they can't get real guns, they use BB guns or even rocks. Violence and destruction is the key, don't let anyone tell you differently. The gun is just a tool.

One of the great difficulties in arguing with gunloons is they don't understand basic math and believe science is a liberal conspiracy.

Case in point, some of the comments in response to my post on the General Social Survey (GSS) conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. Here are two, related comments:

First up, our resident troll, 'Anonymous:'

Do you really expect gunloons to tell someone over the phone that they own guns?

Do you think that would skew the results?

Next up, frequent commenter 'TS,' who should know better:

Some people may not be getting on the internet or answering phone surveys. Call them secretive or paranoid- whichever you want.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Does he and the NRA really think that making it harder for those who are not responsible enough, or people with malicious intent, to get guns is a life-threatening problem? Because to us, it doesn't sound like anyone is taking their guns out of their hands or their end-ability to buy them, but rather putting up a little inconvenience that their passion for guns should surpass.

Household gun ownership peaked in 1977, when more than half (54 percent) of American households reported having any guns. By 2010, this number had dropped more than 20 percentage points to 32.3 percent of American households reporting having any guns in the home--the lowest level ever recorded by the GSS. In 2010, fewer than a third of American households reported having a gun in the home.

Personal gun ownership peaked in 1985, when 30.7 percent of Americans reported personally owning a gun. By 2010, this number had dropped nearly 10 percentage points to 20.8 percent--the lowest level ever recorded by the GSS. In 2010, slightly more than one out of five Americans reported personally owning a gun.

Male gun ownership peaked in 1990, when 52.4 percent of males reported personally owning a gun. By 2010, this number had dropped more than 19 percentage points to 33.2 percent--the lowest level ever recorded by the GSS. In 2010, only one out of three American males reported personally owning a gun.

Female gun ownership has fluctuated within a narrow range with no recent signs of increase. Relatively rare, female gun ownership peaked in 1982 at 14.3 percent. In 2010 the female personal gun ownership rate was 9.9 percent. Only one out of 10 American females reported personally owning a gun in 2010.

Here's the story. A gun owner just couldn't bear to be separated from his precious guns. Over his dead body would he allow them to be taken.

A man fatally shot himself on Thursday afternoon when Pittsburgh police knocked on the door of his Observatory Hill home to retrieve his weapons, authorities said.

A judge ordered Brian McHale, 38, to appear in court at 1 p.m. yesterday to turn in his weapons because of a domestic violence charge, police Cmdr. RaShall Brackney said. When McHale did not appear, police went to check his home, Brackney said.

Officers arrived at the duplex on Baytree Street about 1:15 p.m., knocked and announced themselves, then heard a single gunshot, Brackney said.

"It sounded like a cannon," said Doug Smith, who lives in the apartment below McHale's. "It's not something that happens every day."

Police called in a SWAT team and a negotiator, Brackney said. After two hours of unsuccessfully trying to reach him via text messages and phone calls, officers fired gas into the home and entered. They found McHale alone, dead from what appeared to be a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound, Brackney said.

Shaler police on Sunday had charged McHale with harassment and terroristic threats. He had a hearing yesterday morning before District Judge Robert Dzvonick, court records show.

“The beauty is that you folks here in the NRA have been talking about this for years, somewhat out in the wilderness,” he said. “But now the values that you’ve been focused for so many years are coming right squarely in the center.”

“In many respects, you folks were the canary in the mineshaft (with) the assault on basic foundational freedoms in our Constitution,” Santorum said. “Now we’re seeing those assaults growing and growing and growing. But you were out there first, leading the charge, fighting those battles. And now the battlefield has broadened, and we have to fight for our freedom from an oppressive government on a variety of fronts.”

Everyone knows it's all about FIGHTING and resisting OPPRESSION. It's about FIGHTING THOSE BATTLES and COMBATTING THOSE ASSAULTS.

This is the way one talks to the NRA crowd. Is it any wonder that every once in a while one of them decides to shoot up the joint?

Four people were found dead in a rural Ohio home Saturday, three police officers were wounded, and a fourth person was injured all within a span of about 30 minutes that ended with a police shootout and the death of a man police suspect was responsible for the bloody mayhem.

Randle Lee Roberts II, 27, whose hometown police did not provide, was killed in the shootout about a half hour after a young girl found the bodies of her relatives in a home near West Union in southern Ohio.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Would making it easier to shoot these intruders deter them from committing such a crime? I doubt it, given that thinking of any kind, much less planning doesn't seem to be their strong suit.

But it would have put all of the people at that location at risk for being hit by gunfire. Fewer guns equate to greater safety for all of us, criminal or victim, good or bad, including the polic).

Three men were each charged with two felony offenses by the Anoka County Attorney’s Office April 29 for their involvement in a home invasion at a Coon Rapids residence two days earlier.
Mava Gene Jones Jr., 33, Crystal, and Michael Lewis Earley, 35, St. Paul, were both arraigned in Anoka County District Court April 29 on aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery and first-degree burglary charges.
A warrant was issued for the arrest of Andrew Joseph Casserly, 19, St. Cloud, formerly of Coon Rapids, on the same charges.
Casserly was arrested by Coon Rapids Police Sunday and arraigned on two charges in court Monday.
The morning of May 1, police received information that Casserly was at an apartment on the 10600 block of Tamarack Street N.W., which is close to where the home invasion took place.
Police entered the apartment and found Casserly hiding in a bathroom shower.

Casserly allegedly gave Jones a fake black handgun and Earley carried a baseball bat.
When they got to the residence, Jones alleged that Earley kicked in the door and he admitted to pointing the gun at the occupants, alleging that Earley also threatened them with the baseball bat.
He alleged Casserly stolen the purse, then the three of them fled.
Wednesday evening, on his way to the Anoka County Jail after giving his statement to Eychaner, Jones allegedly took police to an area on the 1000 block of 106th Avenue where a handgun was recovered from the grass by some mailboxes.
Searching in the area of 105th and Unity Street police found a black stocking cap, black leather gloves and a red bandanna in an empty garbage container based on information provided by Jones.
According to Eychaner, Earley refused to give a statement, invoking his right to an attorney.

Newt Gingrich says it’s not the Constitution that gives us the right to own a gun, it’s God.

Alan's response:

Isn’t it God who gives gays the right to be with whom they love? Don’t immigrants have the right to exist where they can thrive because that is a God-given right? Isn’t it God who gives women reproductive rights? Or are these last areas where the government is supposed to step in.

What's your opinion? Is it not a bit contradictory to say the right to own a pistol is god-given, but it's right for the government to limit women's reproductive rights?

Could this be any more foolish? Not only has Obama proven to NOT be a threat to gun rights, this strategy failed miserably in 2008.

In a well-received video greeting, Rep. Michele Bachmann urged gun owners Friday to be as engaged in 2012 as they were during the midterm elections that gave Republicans control of the House.

“The right to keep and bear arms has to be protected because the Second Amendment is the final guarantor of all our constitutional rights,” the Minnesota Republican said in a pre-record message for thousands of activists at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting. “In 18 months, we’ll face one of the most important elections of our time. In 2012, we have the opportunity to repeal the current president and elect a Constitutional conservative who will protect our Second Amendment rights.”

A Queens man was arraigned late Friday after police say his son brought a loaded pistol to school and sold it to another student.

Police say Ignacio Galvan, 54, was arraigned on charges of criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment, and endangering the welfare of a child.

Bail was set at $3,000.

If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

His son is charged as a juvenile with three counts of criminal weapons possession.

Wait a minute. They're charging the boy in juvenile court? Does that sound right to you? I guess we should be happy it didn't happen in Florida or Arizona where the dad wouldn't have even gotten a look.

The National Rifle Association has been holding its annual meeting in Pittsburgh for the past few days, heralded with billboards promising "acres of guns and gear."

Here's a billboard you didn't see, but would have if the group was honest about its mission to paint even the most sensible gun laws as a step toward tyranny: "The NRA: Because if Richard Poplawski can't have an arsenal, neither can you."

What's your opinion? Is she saying there actually was a sign saying that about Poplawski, or that this is what describes the NRA position? Either way, I agree with Sally's take on it. The NRA is pushing misery and suffering.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

A gun in the household is far more likely to be used against a member of that household:But detectives say Friday night they started to argue. First James and his wife, Dana, and then father and son. Things got heated and detectives say Brandon pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and shot his father several times. James died at the scene. No one else was hurt.

Hmmm:

During the incident, she mentioned that James had a holstered gun that he takes to work with him. No word if this gun was the one used in the latest shooting.

Remember this?Ask any ER doc, he or she will tell you the truth, knivfe [sic] attacks are more lethal than gun attacks. Harder to fix too.

Lots of gunloons like to make up stuff like this because they can then pretend firearms aren't really all that deadly or dangerous.

Now, I could debunk this a number of ways. The first way is pretty obvious; it's much more difficult to make a lethal knife attack than a lethal gun attack. If an assailant uses a knife, he has to be able to get within an arm's length of his intended victim. And that victim could flee, fight back, use arms and legs to ward off the attack, etc. All of which make a lethal knife wounding much less likely. Once more, there's a very good reason why we send troops into combat with firearms and not knives.

Commenter P tells us "any ER doc" will tell you knife attacks are more lethal than gun attacks. Really? Care to name one? Of course, one can plug the term "gun shot and stab wound mortality" into Google and obtain a fairly large number of studies from the US, Australia, Finland, Switzerland, Canada and other countries that show not only is gun wound lethality is higher than stab wounds--but it is many times higher. From Tim Lambert: For example a study in The Journal of Trauma (36:4 pp516-524) looked at all injury admissions to a Seattle hospital over a six year period. The mortality rate for gunshot wounds was 22% while that for stab wounds was 4%. Even among patients that survived, gunshot wounds were more serious --- the mean cost of treatment for these patients was more than twice that for stab wounds.

One would think Oklahoma state representative Sally Kern had learned to think before she spoke. In 2008, she left everyone appalled by her remark that gay people are a greater threat to the U.S. than terrorists.But the Republican lawmaker has once again put her foot in her mouth, and this time, the constituents may not be so forgiving.CBS News reports that at a debate on the affirmative action bill last Wednesday, Kern declared that women don’t work as hard because they “tend to think a little bit more about their families.” She also questioned whether blacks have high numbers in prison because “they didn’t want to work hard in school.”

Ever notice how most of your fervent NRA politicos tend to have difficulties with women and people of color? Coincidence?

I suggested in a comment over on TTAG that Robert should have followed up these questions with one about whether or not the inclusion of that expression in the Supreme Court’s decision enables lower courts to do their more specific versions of it. In other words, The Supremes didn’t specify what reasonable restrictions could be added, only that they can be.

Escapee shot; baby OK; vests save Mass. police

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A man suspected of a Springfield barber shop shooting Saturday that left one person dead was tracked by police to his hiding place in the trunk of a car, opened fire on the officers when they popped the trunk and was wounded when the officers returned fire, police said.

A Massachusetts state trooper and a Springfield police officer were each shot in the chest but were wearing bullet-proof vests that police credited with saving the officers' lives.
Police identified the suspect as prison escapee Tamik J. Kirkland, 24, whom police had been looking for since his escape April 24 from a minimum security prison, where he was serving a sentence for weapons convictions.
A 6-month-old baby was in the rear seat of the car but was not injured, police said.
"The trunk was popped and officers were a couple of feet from the trunk," Springfield Sgt. John Delaney, executive aide to the police commissioner, said in a news release.
"The suspect came out firing right away striking the Mass State Trooper in the chest and then kept shooting striking the Springfield Police Officer in the chest," Delaney said. "Both the Trooper and the Springfield Police Officer had their lives saved by their bullet proof vests."
Delaney said the officers shot Kirkland several times, then performed CPR on him before Kirkland was taken to a hospital. Kirkland was in serious condition at Bayside Medical Center, police said. Delaney said Kirkland's mother was shot last week and Kirkland was a suspect in other shootings in Springfield in the same week.

The officers' names were not released, pending notification of their families. Their injuries were not life threatening. The Springfield Republican identified the police officer as Raul Gonzalez.

About noon Saturday, police responded to a shooting at Bill Brown's House of Beauty, Barber Shop and Supply. Two people were shot: one fatally. The other was critically injured, police said.
Police were told of a house where the suspect might have gone. When they arrived, they saw a woman drive into the driveway, then saw a man get into the trunk of the car. Officers got the woman out of the car and then approached the back of the car, when Kirkland burst from the open trunk and started firing, police said.___Information from: The Springfield Republican, http://www.masslive.com/news/

Sources close to the investigation said residents of two adjacent townhouses were partying and going back and forth between the two houses during the evening. At some point Arriolo left the area, and when he came back he banged on his next-door neighbor's door and forced his way in, sources said.

Arriolo, a convicted felon with an eight-page rap sheet that includes convictions for several violent crimes, forced the neighbor back into a bedroom, where the neighbor kept a gun, which he used to shoot Arriolo twice, according to the sources.

The prosecution described him pursuing her from room to room as she held one of their 18-month-old twins, then shooting her above the right eye with a 9mm semiautomatic.

The other one:

He declined to testify at his trial. But in a 90-minute videotaped statement to detectives, Salter said he had attempted to give his gun to Simon's mother as a peace gesture. Two male family members grabbed his arm, he said, and the gun went off twice, one shot striking Simon.

Salter sobbed while giving the statement. He denied Simon was holding a baby. At least one juror cried while watching the videotape this week. Salter's public defender, Greg Hill, said it was all a horrible accident.

It came out in the trial that there had been other incidents of domestic abuse.

He's facing life in prison now, maybe he should only have to do 5 years or so. What do you think?

A white teenager has pleaded guilty to attempted murder for shooting a black classmate inside the entrance to the Cooperstown Police Department last year.

An Otsego County Court spokeswoman says 17-year-old Anthony Pacherille Jr. pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree attempted murder and could be sent to prison for up to 11 years when he's sentenced July 22. He had been facing the same charge as a hate crime, but that provision was dropped as part of a plea deal.

In April 2010, Pacherille chased Wesley Lippitt from a park near the National Baseball Hall of Fame to the foyer of the nearby police station and shot the other teen in the arm with a .22-caliber rifle. Pacherille then shot himself in the chin.

Now, wait a minute, he shot the black kid in the ARM and then what, tried to kill himself and missed too? What kind of gun training did he receive from his parents anyway? I mean, that's some pretty wild shootin', don't you think?

At first it sounds excessive, to say the least, but I suppose the courts need some flexibility when determining if a person has a reasonable chance of rehabilitating himself. What do you think?

A Lower Valley man on Friday became the latest gang defendant to be handed an effective life sentence for a nonfatal shooting.

Chad Duncan, who prosecutors said uses the nickname "Hitman," had to be escorted from the courtroom by guards after he delivered an outburst claiming the judge had no authority over him and refused to sit down.

Normally I'm the first one to oppose charging juveniles as adults, but this case makes me wonder. Often when a kid as young as 14 does something wrong with a gun, I want to look at the parents. That doesn't seem to apply in the case of young Orosczo.

As one of the speakers at the NRA convention, Mike Huckabee made a big mistake in judgment. Think about it. If the NRA wasn't able to prevent Obama's election in 2008, in spite of the money invested and the wide-spread belief that "Obama would take their guns away," what chance do they have this time? Therefore, sucking up to the NRA is a big mistake, perhaps a determining one.

Of course he's not officially running yet.

Huckabee also said Obama didn't receive an "F" rating from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence because the president has helped gun owners — though gun owners have been allowed to pack weapons on Amtrak trains and carry them in federal parks since President Obama took office.

Rather, Huckabee said President Obama is simply not attacking gun owners' rights as quickly and effectively as anti-gun and gun control groups would like.

What's your opinion? Does that make sense to you that the Brady "F" was for NOT doing enough instead of for actually DOING some NRA bidding? I didn't see a video, but I'll bet the crowd cheered when ole Mike made those stupid remarks.

It should come as no surprise to any parent that kids will bring home the darndest things. Whether it is a slimy toad or a sniffling cold, they'll certainly keep you on your toes. Those items, as irritating as they may be, however, pale in comparison to an item one New York parent's child recently brought home from school."On April 28, police responded to PS 107 Thomas A. Dooley on 45th Avenue in Queens for a male eight-year-old that bought a 9mm semi-automatic loaded firearm," a spokeswoman for the City of New York Police Department told Weird News.
Police say the third-grader purchased the gun for $3 from another eight-year-old child and took the weapon home. The boy thought the gun was a toy and showed it to his mother, who recognized it as a real handgun. The irate mother took her son and the pistol back to the school, where school administrators immediately contacted police.
According to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, the gun had "three live rounds in it and ... a live round was found on the floor of the school room," Kelly told reporters.